Top Trump lawyer in private email exchange: 'Me and Kelly' are the 'adults in the room'

REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst

White House special counsel Ty Cobb engaged in a lengthy email exchange in which he defended his decision to join President Donald Trump's legal team and appeared to refer to himself and White House Chief of Staff John Kelly as the "adults in the room."

The exchange on Tuesday night was with Jeff Jetton, the owner of a popular ramen restaurant in Washington, DC, who has made himself known to reporters by digging into Trump's alleged ties to Russia — partly as an unabashed troll.

Jetton had sat down earlier this year for separate on-the-record interviews with Carter Page, an early Trump campaign foreign-policy adviser, and Sergei Millian, a reported source in the dossier, alleging Trump-Russia ties. Jetton also once wrote Trump's personal lawyer, Michael Cohen, to give him fashion advice.

Cobb, a partner at Hogan Lovells, responded to Jetton's obscenity-laden emails using his official White House email account. Jetton provided Business Insider with the exchange that followed, in which Cobb sheds light on his motivations for joining the White House in July.

'More adults in the room will be better'

"How are you sleeping at night? You’re a monster," Jetton wrote to Cobb's White House email account on Tuesday night.

"Like a baby ... " wrote Cobb, who was brought in to the White House to oversee Trump's legal and media response to the ongoing Russia investigation.

The conversation escalated quickly, with Jetton attacking "the havoc" Cobb and his "ilk are causing."

"I, like many others, lay awake, restless, my mind dissecting countless scenarios of how bad this could get, what new thing you have dreamt up to pull us down a pathway to hell," Jetton wrote. "You remind me less of a grumpy baseball player and more of that horrid clown from the Stephen King novel."

Cobb replied: "Enjoy talking to the Secret Service. Hope you are you less than nine years old as you seem to be ... "

He later called Jetton "deranged impotent and unimportant," but continued to respond.

Hogan Lovells

"I'm probably going to lose access to affordable healthcare, ty [thank you]," Jetton wrote, adding that Trump is "screwing everyday Americans" and that "I don't have to tell you that, it's right there slapping you across the face."

Cobb replied: "Dude U have no idea! I walked away from $4 million annually to do this, had to sell my entire retirement account for major capital losses and lost a s---load to try to protect the third pillar of democracy. Your hate I will never understand as an American. Hope you get help!"

Jetton later told Business Insider that "citing the millions of dollars that you gave up to work for Trump is as out of touch and tone deaf as hashtagging name brands in your Instagram and class-shaming your critics." (Jetton was referring to comments made by Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin's wife on Instagram last month.)

Asked later by Jetton to "set the record straight" and explain how Cobb is "justifying" his role at the White House to himself and others, Cobb replied he "can say assertively [that] more adults in the room will be better. Me and Kelly among others."

'It appears I was catfished'

Jetton went on to ask what "drives folks like you to give up their legacies and careers to stand side by side with him."

Cobb then wrote a lengthy response defending his philanthropic record and asserting that the Russia investigation was "limiting" Russia's cooperation with the US against North Korea.

"Forgiven," Cobb wrote. "You should check out my record, Chairman of the Grand Canyon Trust, largest donor to Mercy Corps, significant donor to Historically black colleges, Feed the Children and other needy and important groups to the tuber of over $4 million in last 10 years, among others."

"Three pillars of govt. All deserve a defense," he continued. "Particularly with phony allegations and fake news. I am on be here for long but will be I my piece against bull---- Russian bull---- that hurts us now and is totally political limiting Russian cooperation against NK. This s--- is real and real time. Got to go: Best, Ty."

It is not the first time Cobb has sent unusual emails from his White House account. He replied to another amateur Trump-Russia sleuth Tuesday night, shortly after his exchange with Jetton, suggesting she should get an IQ test.

"Not really fantasies when Russia just stated on Sunday they regret 'electing Trump,'" wrote Olga Lautman. "They don't seem too happy with Trump. Americans aren't either! Oh well the truth shall set everyone free."

Cobb replied: "Seriously Dude, if anyone loves you, let them take you to an IQ test and then do what they suggest....love and peace."

Last Saturday night, Cobb asked this reporter via email in response to questions about the firing of former FBI Director James Comey: "Are you on drugs?"

Jetton told Business Insider that he doesn't know Cobb but emailed to voice his "displeasure in what I see as a pattern of high-powered attorneys in Washington giving up any semblance of ethical consideration to work for a disastrous regime."

Cobb did not respond to emails, calls, and text messages seeking comment on Wednesday. But he told Mother Jones' David Corn that he "was trying to turn someone who appeared angry into a friend. And privately. My bad. This was what I believed to be a private conversation. There are many pros and talented people in the White House. I am proud to be there. It was not for public consumption but it appears I was catfished.”

White House press secretary Sarah Sanders told Corn: “I can attest that Ty has been nothing but professional and helpful to the entire team and we are all working together well and glad he is part of the administration.”

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